Invitation by the University of Würzburg

Dear Colleagues,
 
It is a great pleasure for me to invite you to the International Conference “Strategies against Counterfeit Medicines” in Würzburg. After a first successful conference in November 2008, this is the second conference on this topic supported by the University of Würzburg.

Counterfeit APIs and medicines pose a growing threat to patients worldwide, with increasing numbers in Europe and the USA. Customs all over the world find more and more illegally produced drugs. And drugs are increasingly sold via the internet making it much easier to put counterfeits into circulation.

Thus, strategies against counterfeited medicines become more important. With this in mind, our new conference programme will focus on:

• Regulatory updates from WHO/IMPACT, FDA, EU (European Commission’s approach and the Council of Europe’s draft convention on counterfeit medical products), and the pharmaceutical tracing and authentication system in Brazil
  Analytical methods and laboratories to detect counterfeit products (e.g. FDA’s Forensic Chemistry Center)
  Supply chain security for APIs and medicinal products
• The aim of this event is to provide a platform for interesting and interactive discussions with regulatory authority representatives, industry experts, university colleagues and delegates from suppliers of anti-counterfeiting products and systems to exchange experiences on the various aspects of anti-counterfeiting activities.
• It will be a great pleasure for me to welcome you in Würzburg on behalf of the Institute of Pharmacy and Food Chemistry of our university.

Prof. Dr. Ulrike Holzgrabe
Chair of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
University of Würzburg